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McLaren F1 GTR up for auction at the Quail

Six-hundred horsepower seems rather paltry figure these days. Sure, it was big stuff when Ferrari introduced the 599 more than a half-decade ago. But these days, Ford will sell you a lowly Mustang with 650 ponies and a factory warranty. Where, pray tell, is the prestige in that?

Though even the Chevrolet Corvette wasn't making 400 hp in 1997 and the megabucks Lamborghini Diablo SV was making do with 510 hp, 600-hp sports-racing cars were nothing new at the time. After all, it's only a third of what Porsche's 1973 917/30 was reputed to pump out in qualifying trim. But there's a 600-hp car, and then there's a 600-hp car that weighs less than a ton, that's decked out in Gulf/Davidoff livery and happened to be built by the very manufacturer that Porsche replaced at the top of the Can-Am heap—McLaren.

Based on the fabled F1, this F1 GTR Longtail is chassis No. 028R and was piloted by Andrew Gilbert-Scott, Geoff Lees, Anders Olofsson and John Neilsen. They contested FIA GT four-hour races at the Nürburgring, Spa, the A1-Ring in Austria, Donington and Mugello, plus three-hour events at Sebring and Laguna Seca and the 1,000 km Suzuka competition. The car finished in the top 10 at Suzuka, Laguna, Donington and Sebring.

Chassis No. 028R was the last Longtail built of ten 1997 models, and it's up for auction this August at the Bonhams Quail Lodge auction, which takes place in California's Carmel Valley during the annual automotive brouhaha on the Monterey Peninsula. If you're there, consider taking it home, won't you? Better yet, consider taking it back to Laguna Seca.

The Monterey Week is packed with car shows, vintage racing and car auctions. Autoweek will be there providing streaming photo galleries and live coverage of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, historic racing at Laguna Seca, the Monterey car auctions and much more. Go to autoweek.com/monterey for complete coverage and live updates.